Nani: I Respect Manager’s Decision To Bench Me

Nani played the last 20 minutes of the Champions League final last month, after coming on for Fabio Da Silva in the second half.

The winger admits he was disappointed to miss out but trusts Sir Alex Ferguson to make the best decision for the team.

“Last season I played more games than ever at United,” said Nani. “That’s why, maybe, in the last games I didn’t look the same as in the first games. It was boring not playing in the Champions League final because you want to play, everyone wants to play. Finals are for playing, but the manager makes the decision. He knows who is better for the team and I have to respect that. Now I’m on holiday to rest and get my power back. At the start of the season I will be fine to start strong again, start to do what I know.”

I was referring to how he sometimes cuts a frustrated figure and maybe better his judgement on when to cross and when to shoot… It’s annoying sometimes how long he keeps the ball and misses out on passing to players in better positions! But he’s getting there, and if he can dribble like Ronaldo, I wouldn’t complain
It doesn’t matter what people say about him and his theatrics, as long as he’s playing well!

In retrospective, I think the worst time of last season for Nani supporters was probably when he missed that penalty against Fulham and we went on to draw the game. Fans do go overboard with emotions and it’s natural for us to be that way!

For the record, it’s not wrong to point out the flaws in our players. I’d be a liar if I didn’t say that Nani’s antics at the start of last season got on my nerves. Especially against Liverpool at OT. What people tend to forget though, is that he’s made an effort to cut out that part of his game. Honestly, I don’t remember a lot of instances in the 2nd half of the season where he made the most of a challenge. More often than not, referees were too harsh on him actually.

Nani seems to have really matured in recent months – in what he says and what he does. Openly respecting fergie’s decisions demonstrates this. Remember Scott’s interview with him -a modest, shy guy came across. (Nani – no idea whether STR is modest and shy!) His stats for last season and players’ player of the year award speak for themselves

I don’t question Sir Alex alot but he was a DAMN FOOL for not starting him at Wembley. Anyone else think Valencia is overrated, predictable and one dimensional? He’s everything Nani is not but he’s 100% the opposite of that statement.

thats a refreshing attitude.. i think he should be employed more centrally.. .atleast switch with rooney and valencia.. he has a great skill set so he can be very effective there as well.. i believe a switching 3 behind hernandez is gonna be the formation for majority of the season…

hope we get a young and budding cm rather than splashing on a bigger name.. even if we sign thiago with barca getting first refusal rights its great.. he’ll be sold back after say 5 years or so.. and till then morrison pogba and tunncliffe will be ready to step up and carry forward.. also we’ll get good cash for him whereas modric and sneijder’s value will depreciate every year..

@KR valencia is predictable and one dimensional but he’s really good at what he does.. he also knows how to use pace to his benefit rather than that twunt at l’arse…. that’s why he’s so good
also he defends tons better than nani thats why he was chosen over nani..
nani has a better skill set and is tons more creative.. he’s one of those players who create something from nothing and literally terrorises wing backs.. ask clichy..

Sadly, we could make that arguement about other players too. Anderson, Fletcher or even Berbatov. I don’t know if a different line up would have given us a better shot, but as rohan says, there was a reason Valencia was prefered. And I think it had to do with his directness, as well as the fact that he defends a lot more.

@not to deliberately drift off topic but i feel if we had played with three defenders and all three of them being cb’s we could have had a chance… messi always plays in the false 9 position and hence there’s no real striker.. but i guess that was too much of a risk to have been taken in such a match.. maybe he’ll do that on july 31st

If Nani and Valencia played roughly the same amount of games on the right wing- they’d get roughly the same amount of assists, maybe Nani would get a few more, but it’d be close. (when Valencia played regularly in 09/10 he got 14…Nani played regularly this season and got 18). So you probably couldn’t separate them much on assists.

You look at other areas though- Nani I think is more of a goal threat than Valencia. And he’s less predictable, which means we as an attacking force are less rigid. Nani can come in off the flank and interchange, it makes us more fluid.

Obviously Valencia offers more defensively- but in 80% of the games we play, we generally dominate possession etc, so door openers like Nani are more valuable IMO. That’s why Park is generally so successful in big games, where we’ll be under more pressure, so workrate is more important. In the other games where we’ll dominate anyway, Park is less useful, coz it’s more about being able to create rather than tracking back.

I’d have a slight preference for Nani over Valencia tbh, however you can’t deny that Valenica is bloody brilliant at what he does! He’s in the Ecuador squad for Copa america though- finishes near the end of July (if Ecuador progress well)- does anybody know if this’ll impact on when he starts the season with Utd?

I love that he not only said he wanted to stay, but admitted that he was probably right to be benched since he KNEW he wasn’t playing his best. Glad he didn’t let those idiots in the papers get to his head. Personally I prefer him over valencia, but at that point in the season Valencia was just the better option. Cool he can understand that that doesn’t mean he can’t start next season.

@rohan19: I (along with some others, I think Denton Davey was a proponent) have been banging on about that for ages…playing 3 central defenders against barca…
GK
Rio Vida Smalling
Rafael Carrick Ando/Fletch Giggs Fabio
Rooney
Hernandez/Berba

twins as wingbacks, more steel to the mf with fletch/ando, affording giggs the freedom to drift wide or central, and the plan doesnt leave rooney with so much defensive work to do. I would like to see someone try out a 3-5-2 against barca with proper players.

If there’s one thing I absolute Love about this club is the fact that not a single player is “too big” for this club and everyone knows that! Stars were bread through the hands of the gaffer and left for so called greener pastures but one thing remains absolute United will always remain United!!

Nani is an excellent player and has so much more to offer the club through consistency!
I’m glad he is willing to stay and fight for his position he has the potential of becoming a true red!

King Eric – Hello mate. I’m good thanks. How’s things? I know full well that he is a fucking vermin cunt. I saw that bastard repeatedly posting comments on the European Cup Final live blog, expressing his delight as each of Barcelona’s goals went in.

He is a far better and more versatile player than Valencia (as good as Valencia is!). He scored some great and important goals last season, it was his injury at Liverpool that knocked his confidence and then resulted in a sudden loss of form which he never regained. If he starts as he did last season, and we have Rooney firing on all cylinders like he was at the end of the season, then we have a great chance of winning number 20!

Steven Gerrard is apparently happy to see Charlie Adam linked with Liverpool, although he doesn’t sound altogether convinced: “We have a lot of good midfielders here. For example, I think Lucas Leiva was our best player last season, but whoever I play with, it’s not a problem.”

I don’t have a problem with Nani going to ground to draw attention to dangerous tackles. I think his real problem is in his decision making.
Every player out there has to make split second decisions all game and occasionally pick the wrong one. You can forgive someone taking a shot instead of passing every once in a while when they get a rush of blood to the head. But he does it way too often. If you get to the point where Rooney is throwing up his hands, then you know you’ve gone too far. He doesn’t seem to have any awareness of this.

Top class the guy nani. Has a bad rep but seems a nice chap who keeps his head down off the field. Technically gifted with plenty of pace. Decision making has obviously improved big time. A bit of upper body strength wouldn’t go a miss. Great player. Will be massive next season. Love the guy.